DON’T BELIEVE THEIR WEBSITE

freedom home front at the exodus road

If only the house pictured above was used for actually helping individuals

 by Ted Lyons

Amazingly, The Exodus Road admits to the real issues and problems that surround human trafficking and exploitation. They post on their website; (https://theexodusroad.com/slavery-now/) “Traffickers prey on the Vulnerable for their own profit.” Unfortunately, The Exodus Road stands guilty of preying upon the vulnerable for their own profit. Secondly, they claim, “Extreme Poverty and a lack of employment opportunities are chief factors for most individuals who find themselves exploited.”

 

I have several questions and concerns about the operations, objectives, and overall motives of The Exodus Road. First of all, let’s address their claim about “preying upon the vulnerable for their own profit.” This is what Matt and Laura Parker, the founders of The Exodus Road, this is what they do. They have found an extreme money-maker in the non-profit world. The Exodus Road’s sole desire is to create headlines, and fundraising strategies at the expense of struggling individuals trying to survive.

 

They create harm and confusion with individuals living in communities who don’t share the same values and religious beliefs they do. However, this is of no concern to them. They will continue to prey upon the vulnerable in an attempt to extort more money. Lauren Pinkston writes in her doctoral dissertation on page 11;

“It remains an expectation that daughters in Thailand will provide for their parents, especially financially, much like the daughters of the ancient kingdom were used to pay the debt of their fathers. Practitioners originally from highly individualistic cultures may have a difficult time understanding how this value is so deeply rooted into Thai culture. However, children will openly admit that honoring their parents by supporting them financially is their greatest duty, and the youngest daughter feels this responsibility more heavily than any person in the family.” https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3524&context=all_dissertations

 

To be clear, Pinkston is not advocating for the exploitation and trafficking of young girls. However, she is pointing out that the misunderstanding of Thai values can lead to harmful outcomes. Matt and Laura Parker ignore the issues they cause in communities and the families of the young women they claim to be saving. The Exodus Road strong-arms local police departments and entices law enforcement officials with bribes. This is their tactic of preying upon the vulnerable. They prey upon young vulnerable women. They prey upon local bar owners and bar staff. And they prey upon local law enforcement officials. They use a false narrative to raise financial support, they in turn invest these donations into “set ups” and false raids. They bring great harm to young women who are trying to support their families. They falsely accuse innocent bar owners of human trafficking. In many cases, they seem to have crossed the line of actually paying underage girls to use false IDs to obtain a job in a bar for the sole purpose of acting as if they are rescuing the girl. They don’t investigate, it seems they are creating the problem. So, yes! Bad Actors do prey upon the Vulnerable.

 

Secondly, The Exodus Road posted on its website that “Extreme Poverty and a lack of employment opportunities are chief factors for most individuals who find themselves exploited.” Yes, this is very true. These factors require attention. However, it seems The Exodus Road only spends its money on travel, salaries, and marketing their rescue operations. Lauren Pinkston writes in her previously mentioned dissertation on pages 57 and 58.

“One organizational leader found it so disheartening how anti-trafficking organizations in Thailand were creating online content, raising funds, and marketing themselves with such emotional narratives that she claimed were selling false stories to Western consumers. This individual shared that these false narratives build stereotypes around human trafficking perpetrators and human trafficking survivors that are difficult to break down, and that these narratives are “disheartening, disrespectful, and do nothing for the movement.” Another participant affirmed the challenge through her experience, sharing that in the 10 or more years she has been involved in this work, she has seen very few happy narratives emerge where survivors are able to heal and live happy lives—the majority of survivors she has witnessed unfortunately return to their previously exploitative situation.”

            https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3524&context=all_dissertations

 

This is disheartening. There are real human trafficking victims who need help. However, the Parkers insist on preying upon vulnerable and needy individuals who are facing poverty and lack of employment opportunities. Matt and Laura Parker take enormous salaries. There is very little to no help given to communities and individuals who are in dire need of financial assistance. The Exodus Road’s nefarious involvement with the Tamar Center and YWAM only create “NGO Slavery.” The leaders of these organizations expect young women to live and take care of their families on the minimal salaries they are given. However, these same leaders take huge financial “kickbacks” and exorbitant salaries.

 

Finally, the Empower Foundation explains that the women who decide to do sex work often do so after they have experienced exploitation in many of the other jobs available. NGO bakeries and trinket-making jobs offer little to no income. “NGO Slavery” is the worst kind of exploitation. One lady quoted by the Empower Foundation states,

“Sex work is a job we decide to do. We don’t have a lot of jobs to choose between but sex work is the not a job of last resort. It is the work that offers us the most opportunities. We earn at least twice what we can earn in any other work. We work fewer hours and have so have more freedom. We have a chance to meet people from all sectors of society and international visitors too. We aren’t isolated because we work alongside other migrant women and Thai women building friendships and strong connections that become our safety net” They repeatedly told Empower “rescue” meant humiliation, prolonged detention and deportation. Their priority was to get out of the situation as quickly as possible and move into a better situation, for some that meant within sex work, while others it did not. The anti-trafficking law and practices did not provide any avenue to do this and decades later still does not meet the needs of those who are trafficked. Detention and deportation remain the final outcome.”  Empower Foundation Representing Thai, Indigenous and Migrant Women doing Sex Work in Thailand (Women of Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and China)

The Exodus Road understands that these women are vulnerable and in need of better employment opportunities. However, they continue to prey upon the vulnerable for financial gain. There needs to be a better understanding of culture and religion among Western volunteers. There needs to be accountability and standards that oversee the actions and finances of Western NGOs. It is time Thailand, and the rest of Southeast Asia confront the invasion of foreign organizations that are backed by unethical Evangelical leaders, and unscrupulous NGOs.

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